Pros and Cons of Food Delivery Services for Restaurants

The Honest Truth About Delivery Apps

DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub have fundamentally changed how restaurants reach customers. They have also fundamentally changed how much restaurants keep from each sale.

This is not a hit piece on delivery apps. They serve a real purpose. But the decision to use them -- and how much to rely on them -- deserves an honest analysis of both sides.

Here is what delivery services actually give you, what they actually cost, and how to decide the right balance for your restaurant.

The Real Costs: What Delivery Apps Take

Commission Fees: 15-30% Per Order

This is the headline number, and it is as bad as it sounds. DoorDash charges restaurants between 15% and 30% depending on the plan. Uber Eats is similar. Grubhub ranges from 15% to 25%.

Let's make it concrete. On a $40 order:

• At 15% commission: you pay $6
• At 25% commission: you pay $10
• At 30% commission: you pay $12

At 30%, a restaurant doing $25,000/month through delivery apps pays $7,500 in commissions. That is $90,000 per year -- enough to hire two full-time employees, renovate your kitchen, or open a second location.

Lower commission tiers exist, but they come with trade-offs. DoorDash's 15% tier gives you less visibility in the app. The algorithm buries you. You pay less per order but get fewer orders.

Customer Fees Reduce Your Order Volume

Delivery apps do not just charge you. They charge your customers too. A typical DoorDash order includes a delivery fee ($1.99-$5.99), a service fee (10-15% of the order), and sometimes a small order fee. On a $30 order, the customer might pay $38-42 after all fees.

Those fees suppress demand. Customers who would order $30 worth of food decide to order $20 instead to keep the total manageable. Or they do not order at all. You never see the orders you lost to sticker shock.

You Do Not Own the Customer

This is the most expensive cost, and it does not show up on any invoice. When a customer orders through DoorDash, DoorDash owns that customer's data -- their email, phone number, order history, and preferences.

You cannot email them next week. You cannot send them a birthday discount. You cannot invite them to a tasting event. You cannot even see who they are in most cases.

Every order through a delivery app is a one-night stand. Every order through your own channel is the start of a relationship.

Menu Control Is Limited

Delivery apps control how your menu appears. Your carefully crafted categories might get rearranged. Your photos might get cropped. Competitors appear on the same screen. Promotions you did not authorize might be applied to your items.

You are a listing in someone else's marketplace, not a brand with its own storefront.

Delivery Quality Is Out of Your Hands

When a DoorDash driver delivers your food cold, late, or to the wrong address, the customer blames you -- not DoorDash. You have no control over the delivery experience, but you bear 100% of the reputational risk.

A single bad delivery can generate a one-star review that costs you far more than the commission on that order.

The Real Benefits: What Delivery Apps Give You

Fairness demands we acknowledge what delivery apps do well.

Massive Customer Reach

DoorDash has over 37 million monthly active users. Uber Eats reaches 150+ countries. These platforms put your restaurant in front of customers who might never find you otherwise.

For a new restaurant with no local reputation, delivery apps provide instant visibility that would take months or years to build organically. This is real, valuable exposure.

Discovery by New Customers

Delivery apps function as a discovery engine. Customers open the app hungry, browse options, and try new restaurants they would not have sought out directly. If your food is good, some of those first-time customers become regulars.

The key word is "some." Delivery app customers are less loyal than direct customers. Research shows that only 15-20% of delivery app customers return to the same restaurant within 60 days, compared to 40-50% for direct ordering customers.

Convenience Infrastructure

Building your own delivery infrastructure from scratch is expensive and complex. Apps provide the drivers, the tracking, the payment processing, and the customer support. For restaurants without the resources to manage their own delivery fleet, this is genuine value.

Low Barrier to Entry

There is essentially no upfront cost to list on a delivery app. No monthly fee, no setup charge, no website needed. You sign up, upload your menu, and start receiving orders. For a cash-strapped restaurant, this accessibility matters.

When Third-Party Delivery Makes Sense

Delivery apps are not always the wrong choice. Here is when they genuinely help:

You just opened. A new restaurant needs orders and exposure. Delivery apps provide both immediately. Use them as a launchpad while you build your direct channel in parallel.

You are testing a new market or menu. Launching a virtual brand or testing a new cuisine concept? Delivery apps let you validate demand without investing in marketing infrastructure. If orders come in, you know there is a market.

You have low order volume and cannot justify a direct platform yet. If you are doing less than $5,000/month in delivery orders, the economics of a monthly platform subscription may not make sense yet. Delivery apps with their pay-per-order model align cost with revenue at low volumes.

You want incremental orders on top of your direct channel. Even restaurants with a strong direct channel can benefit from delivery app exposure. The goal is not zero delivery app orders -- it is making sure delivery apps are a supplement, not your primary channel.

When Direct Ordering Is the Better Choice

For most established restaurants, shifting toward direct ordering is the higher-ROI move.

You have regular customers. If people already know and love your food, they do not need DoorDash to find you. They need a convenient way to order directly. Give them that, and they will use it -- especially if the experience is better and the prices are lower (because you are not passing along commission costs).

You are doing over $10,000/month in delivery. At this volume, commissions are costing you $1,500-$3,000/month. A direct ordering platform like DirectOrders costs a fraction of that and keeps growing more cost-effective as your volume increases.

You want to build a real business asset. A customer database with 5,000 email addresses and order histories is a business asset. It has value if you want to open a second location, launch a catering service, or eventually sell the restaurant. A DoorDash listing has no transferable value.

You care about delivery quality. Direct ordering platforms let you choose your delivery model -- your own drivers, a fleet service you select, or a hybrid. You control the experience. If a delivery goes wrong, you know about it and can fix it.

You want to increase average order value. Direct ordering channels consistently produce higher average order values than delivery apps. Customers spending on your platform are not comparison-shopping on the same screen. There are no competitors one scroll away. And without the delivery app surcharges, customers feel comfortable ordering more.

For specific tactics on reducing delivery app dependency, read our guide on breaking free from delivery app dependency.

The Hybrid Strategy: Using Both Wisely

The smartest restaurants do not choose one or the other. They use delivery apps strategically while building a direct channel that captures more of the value.

Here is how the hybrid approach works:

Use Delivery Apps for Acquisition

Keep your listing on DoorDash and Uber Eats. Accept orders. Deliver great food. But treat every delivery app order as a lead, not a transaction.

Include a printed card in every delivery app order: "Order direct next time at [yourrestaurant.com] -- free delivery on your first order." This converts delivery app customers into direct customers over time.

Use Your Direct Channel for Retention

Once a customer discovers you -- through any channel -- your direct ordering system captures the relationship. Their email, phone number, and order history are yours. You can send targeted promotions, loyalty rewards, and personalized offers.

The lifetime value of a direct customer is 3-5x higher than a delivery app customer because you can re-engage them at zero acquisition cost.

Shift Volume Gradually

Set a target. If 90% of your online orders come from delivery apps today, aim for 70/30 within 6 months and 50/50 within a year. Track the ratio monthly.

As your direct orders grow, you may not need to reduce your delivery app presence at all. You are simply capturing incremental volume that would have otherwise required paying commission.

Price Strategically

Consider offering slightly lower prices on your direct channel than on delivery apps. A $14 entree on your website versus $16 on DoorDash (where the customer also pays $5 in fees) creates a clear incentive to order direct. You still make more per order at $14 direct than at $16 minus 25% commission.

For a detailed breakdown of these economics, use our commission calculator to see the exact numbers for your restaurant.

How to Transition: A Practical Roadmap

Month 1: Set Up Your Direct Channel

Choose a direct ordering platform. Set up your menu, configure delivery zones, and integrate with your POS. Get live on your website, Google Business Profile, and social media profiles. Read the setup guide for a step-by-step walkthrough.

Month 2: Start Converting Delivery App Customers

Add inserts to every delivery app order promoting direct ordering. Update your social media bios with your direct ordering link. Run a "first order free delivery" promotion for direct orders. Mention direct ordering in your voicemail and on-hold message.

Month 3: Expand Your Channels

Add ordering through Google Business Profile, Instagram, and other channels. The more places customers can order directly, the fewer end up on delivery apps by default. See how delivery management connects the dots.

Month 4-6: Build Loyalty

Launch a loyalty program for direct customers. Send email campaigns with exclusive offers. Create a VIP experience that delivery apps cannot replicate. Every loyalty interaction deepens the direct relationship.

Month 6+: Evaluate and Adjust

Review your direct vs. delivery app ratio. Review your total commission costs versus where you started. Adjust your delivery app listing activity based on what you learn. Some restaurants reduce their delivery app presence. Others keep it steady but enjoy a much healthier ratio.

The Math That Matters

Here is a simplified comparison for a restaurant doing $30,000/month in online orders:

100% through delivery apps at 25% commission:

• Revenue: $30,000
• Commission: -$7,500
• Net: $22,500

50/50 split (half direct at $299/month platform fee, half on apps at 25%):

• Direct revenue: $15,000 (you keep 100%)
• App revenue: $15,000 minus $3,750 commission = $11,250
• Platform fee: -$299
• Net: $25,951

That is $3,451 more per month -- or $41,412 per year -- just from moving half your orders to direct. And that does not count the value of owning 50% more customer data.

Read more about the hidden costs of commission-based platforms and how they compound over time.

The Bottom Line

Delivery apps are not villains. They are tools. Like any tool, the value depends on how you use them.

Use them for what they are good at: reaching new customers and providing delivery infrastructure. But do not build your business on a foundation that takes 25% of every dollar and owns the customer relationship.

The restaurants that will thrive in the next five years are the ones that treat delivery apps as a customer acquisition channel and direct ordering as the backbone of their business. The sooner you make that shift, the more revenue you keep and the stronger your business becomes.

Explore DirectOrders -- zero commission, your delivery infrastructure, your customers. Or see how we compare to DoorDash and other alternatives.